You know your business needs systems and procedures to grow…but where do you start?

by Lisa Weber, SuperStar Consulting ©

We all know that the only difference between a job and a business is that a business is supposed to give you more freedom and become an asset that you can sell some day. But without systems you will never have a business, you will only have a job with overheads. Think about yourself and your business. If you are like most business owners, you really do not own the business…it owns you.

You know you must put systems in your business, but you don’t know where to start. You are overwhelmed because it is such a large job. Well my advice to you is to ‘chunk-it-down’!

Start by looking at those areas that affect your clients and will have the most impact on your business:

n What is your prospecting process?
n How do you service your clients?
n How do you take customer orders?
n What do you do if a client complains?

Then move to other areas of your business, possibly based on your organisational structure, like administration, finance, personnel, stock control, management, marketing, sales, information technology and disaster recovery. For each business the importance of these will be different…you need to identify the areas that are more critical to your business and start there.

The other way to find out where to start is by keeping a problem’s log or diary for a month. Make a note of every type of phone call, email and conversation you have and all the tasks you do on a daily basis. This will take some time, but you will gain insight into how you spend your time each day. This process should identify inefficiencies in your business, and you can then create a new system around how you think the process should be stepped through.

When it comes time to documenting the system, you need to record the steps of each task or create a checklist that will cover all steps in a simple way. This process may also indicate the need for a script for phone calls or personal visits and templates that can be used and copied each time they are needed.

Test and Teach:

Once you’ve done the hard work, you need to test your system. The best way is to give it to someone who’s never done the task before and ask them to follow the system document to complete the task. If they can do it without asking you a question, you have succeeded. If not, edit your system’s document to cover the questions they asked.

If your employees are not used to formalised systems, you will need to conduct a small training session with them.  Explain why you have put systems in place and that the use of systems is not negotiable. If they find problems with the system or need to ask questions, then update your documents to reflect these issues.

Lisa Weber from SuperStar Consulting has developed specialised programs for small businesses wanting to start this process.  Contact SuperStar Consulting on T: 07 3314 1525 E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it W: www.superstarconsulting.com.au

source: http://www.womensnetwork.com.au